


Could We Be Something Extraordinary

by wouldbflat



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Cheerleaders, Eventual Romance, F/M, Football, Friends to Lovers, High School, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:35:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25961440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wouldbflat/pseuds/wouldbflat
Summary: Betty knew that the Serpents were bad news. Everybody knew that.Betty also knew that a certain Serpent had caught her eye.From the moment she laid eyes on Jughead Jones, Betty knew she was in trouble.Basically the Riverdale/Zombies AU nobody asked for.
Relationships: Archie Andrews & Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper & Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones, Cheryl Blossom & Betty Cooper, Jughead Jones & Sweet Pea, Jughead Jones & Toni Topaz
Comments: 10
Kudos: 16





	1. If We Just Try to Fit In

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! This is my first Riverdale fic, so bear with me. Everyone might be a little out of character, but I'm trying to mix personalities from the show and the movie. There are also some things I've changed that you might notice if you've watched Zombies over 3 times (I have two little sisters, don't judge). I'm going to be adding more tags as each chapter comes out. Anyways, enjoy and let me know what you think.
> 
> Also, if anyone would like to beta for me that would be great. Leave a comment or PM me (i'm new to ao3 is that the right term lol?).
> 
> I don't own anything.

Betty woke up five minutes before her alarm.

She opened her eyes and stretched. Then, remembering the date, she shot up in her bed. It was the first day of freshman year! She had been planning for 9th grade since the beginning of the summer. She had already planned out the entire year: make lots of new friends, get amazing grades to impress her parents, and most importantly, she would make the cheerleading team.

Betty turned her alarm off and got dressed in the outfit she had picked out two weeks ago. She ran her hands down the front of the skirt, taking extra care not to wrinkle the pale blue dress. She made her way into her bathroom, brushing out her hair before pulling it into her usual ponytail. As she washed her hands after putting on her usual light makeup, Betty stared down at her hands. There in the center of her palms, were four scars.

The scars were shaped like semicircles and clearly from her fingernails. Betty sighed, and gripped the edge of the counter. Sometimes everything was too much. The pressure from her parents and classmates and teachers, and the constant voice in the back of her head saying, _you will never be good enough_. The pain from her nails was enough to drown out those voices, and it was surprisingly easy to hide the scars. And thank god for that; if anyone saw them, Betty would be at the bottom of the social ladder in a heartbeat.

Betty took a deep breath and smoothed out her dress one more time. Once she deemed herself first-day-of-school-worthy, she headed down the stairs.

* * *

Betty's mom looked up as Betty entered the kitchen. 

"Betty!" Alice exclaimed, "I was wondering when you were going to get down here!"

Betty sighed and sat down at the table. "Well I'm here now, Mom." She smiled at her dad as he entered the kitchen. "Morning, Dad!"

Hal smiled at her as he placed a bowl in front of her. "Morning, honey. Better eat up quick if you want to walk with the other kids."

Betty nodded and took a bite of the oatmeal in front of her, eyes widening as her mouth exploded with the taste of brown-sugar.

She looked up at her dad, who smiled and put a finger to her lips. Betty nodded back and continued eating, this time with a smile on her face. Alice would never allow her to eat anything with the word 'sugar' in the name, especially the morning of cheer tryouts. Hal must have sneaked it in when Alice wasn't looking, and Betty loved her dad even more for it.

Betty quickly ate her breakfast and put her bowl in the sink. As she was checking the contents of her backpack one last time, her mom came to talk to her. 

"Honey," Alice started. "Good luck at cheer tryouts today. I know you'll do great." Betty heard the underlying threat in her mom's voice. "This town needs cheer more than ever right now, with those thugs attending Riverdale High this year."

Betty remembered that Southside High had recently been shut down, and all of the students there were attending Riverdale High now. And some of those students were members of a gang; the Southside Serpents. Betty didn't think they could be _that_ bad, but ever since Betty's grandfather had been hospitalized by a serpent (he was dead now, but from a completely different incident. Henry Cooper liked to pick fights.) Alice had been wary of the gang. 

Betty turned around with a forced smile. "Don't worry, Mom." she said, strained. "I'll be careful, and stick close to Archie and Cheryl. And don't worry about cheer, you know I've got this in the bag."

Alice smiled at her daughter. "I know, I know. I worry too much about you." She gave Betty a hug before pushing her towards the door. "Go on now," she said. "And make sure to say hello to Cheryl for me."

Betty nodded and took a deep breath, before walking out the front door. 

She was going to _own_ this year.


	2. This Might Look Rough but it's Home Sweet Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "soph," i said to myself. "stick to a schedule. post one chapter per week. school's going to start soon and you're going to run out of chapters to post."
> 
> i couldn't help myself and i already have 4 chapters written so i figured, why not?  
> i probably won't post again until next though, i really don't want to run out of chapters

Jughead woke up five minutes before his alarm.

He groaned and rolled over, facing away from the few rays of sunshine streaming through his window. He really did not want to get out of bed. Today was his first day at Riverdale High. Jughead knew that he would have the Serpents with him, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to face to stares of the other students. He didn’t want to deal with their prejudice.

To make matters worse, Jughead’s dad was making him try out for the football team. He really didn’t want to, but his dad said he had to do at least one sport or else he wasn’t allowed to go to Serpent hangouts at the Whyte Wyrm. /

Looking at the clock, he decided he had to get up now or risk being late. He grudgingly got dressed in his usual t-shirt, jeans, and flannel, before pulling on his Serpents jacket. If they were going to stare, he might as well give them something to stare at.

* * *

Pulling on his beanie as he made his way downstairs, Jughead saw Jellybean playing with her stuffed dog. His younger sister wanted a pet more than anything in the world, but the Jones’s just couldn’t afford to take care of a dog right now.

Sighing, Jughead got down his knees and barked. Her head turning to look at him, Jellybean’s eyes lit up. She dropped her stuffed dog and patted her leg. “Here puppy,” she called. “Come here Juggy!” Jughead crawled towards her on his knees. Seeing that smile on her face made the ache in his knees worth it.

Jughead let Jellybean pat his head once before getting up to sit in his chair. Their dad came in with a pan full of eggs. “You ready, boy?” FP asked. “Today’s a big day. You’ll be at an actual school with competent teachers, _and_ you’re going to make the football team.”

Jughead grimaced. “Can’t wait, Dad.” He said without enthusiasm. Jughead stood, pulling his bag onto his shoulder as he shoveled the last of the eggs into his mouth. He ruffled Jellybean’s hair on his way out, wishing her a great first day of school.

Jughead found Sweet Pea waiting outside his front door. “What’s up, man?” he asked, high-fiving Sweet Pea. “Man, do we really have to go to this fancy school?” the other Serpent complained. “My ma said she was willing to let me homeschool if everyone else pitched in.” Jughead grinned at his friend. “Whoa Sweet Pea,” he joked. “Are you feeling alright? You’re asking to spend more time at home.” Sweet Pea rolled his eyes at Jughead. “C’mon, you know what I mean. Those Northsiders are not ready to handle all of this.” Sweet Pea flexed, and Jughead laughed, pushing his friend away.

They found Toni standing on a car in the street, with a small crowd of Serpents around her. As Jughead expected, she was preaching about not letting the Northsiders define them, to be themselves but also stay in check because this was a really good school and she would _killeverysingleoneofthemifhtheygotherkickedout_.

Jughead gestured for Toni to get off the car. “I can see you’ve taken my place in giving a pep-talk this morning.” He said. “Thank you so much.”

Toni grinned at him. “I knew you would be racing out the door at the very last possible second, so I figured it was okay.” She said.

“You know me so well.” Jughead answered, laughing. “C’mon, let’s go.”

As he and his friends walked towards the entrance to the Northside, Jughead took a deep breath.

He was _so_ ready for this year to be over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you enjoyed it! let me know what you think, leave a comment or email me with constructive criticism at wouldbflat@gmail.com


	3. This is Gonna Be My Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me last week: soph, don't post a third chapter. i know you really want to but you have to wait
> 
> me this week: oh shit it's monday i have to post the next chapter

“Hey Betty!” Archie called out as he ran up next to Betty. “Are you _sure_ ready for today?” her best friend joked, knowing that this day was all she had been thinking about all summer.

“Hardy har,” Betty answered him. “I could you the same question, Arch. I know for a fact that you finished your summer reading assignment _yesterday_.” Archie shrugged sheepishly. “Hey, at least it’s done!” he said.

As the pair made their way towards Riverdale High, they saw a crowd of students on the beach. Betty and Archie looked at each other before going to check it out.

Cheryl Blossom was in the middle of a circle of students, showing off her cheerleading moves. Betty should have known. The other students worshipped the cheer captain, and Cheryl knew it. The redhead took any excuse to show off for the others.

Betty pulled Archie along, hoping Cheryl wouldn’t notice them.

“Cousin Betty!” Cheryl called out from the beach. “Come join us!”

Betty grimaced. “That’s okay, Cheryl.” She said. “We don’t want to be late on our first day of high school.”

Cheryl squealed, walking over to the duo. “Ooh, that’s right! My little cousin is joining us this year!” she hooked her arm through Betty’s, steering them towards the high school with Archie trailing behind them. “And you’ll being joining us for cheer tryouts, of course.” Cheryl chattered on, oblivious to Betty’s discomfort.

As they neared the school, Betty noticed a new addition: a tall gate separated two entrances to the school. Betty pulled Cheryl to a stop in front of it.

“Wait,” she said, interrupting Cheryl’s babbling. “What’s that for?” she asked, gesturing towards the gate.

Cheryl looked at her like she had lost her mind. “Surely cousin,” the redhead started. “You have heard that those delinquents from the Southside will be joining us this year?”

Betty nodded. “Well, yes. But why the gate? I thought the Southsiders were joining us in our classes?”

At this, Cheryl laughed. “Oh, Betty. It’s safer for everyone this way, we have no idea what those Neanderthals are capable of.” Betty supposed Cheryl was right.

Betty knew that the Southsiders were bad news. Everyone knew that. But at that moment, someone from across the gate caught her eye.

The boy was tall and lanky, and his dark hair hid under a beanie, though a single curl kept falling into his eyes. He was beautiful. He caught Betty looking at him and smirked at her. He purposefully kept walking forwards, making sure she saw the Southside Serpents insignia on the back of his leather jacket.

The Southsider wasn’t the only one to notice Betty’s staring, though.

Cheryl pulled Betty to face her and away from the gate. “Oh no, cousin. You are not falling for some Southside... hooligan under my watch. No, we’ll find you a nice Northside boy, preferably a football player, hm?”

Betty nodded absently. “Besides,” her cousin continued. “We wouldn’t want anyone to think you were different, now, would we?” Cheryl gripped Betty’s hands tightly, and the blonde recognized the underlying threat in the gesture. Cheryl wasn’t afraid to tell everyone about the scars on Betty’s hands if she didn’t comply to the redhead’s wishes.

Betty nodded again and pulled her hands away. “Let’s just go, Cheryl.” Betty found Archie in the crowd of students. Thank god he had gotten separated from them; Betty couldn’t bear to have her best friend think any differently of her if he had heard Cheryl’s threat.

She linked her arm though his. “Come on, Arch.” She said, forcing herself to sound cheerful. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Archie left Betty at the bottom of the staircase. He had football tryouts to go to, which unfortunately left Betty alone with Cheryl. luckily, her cousin didn’t mention anything from their earlier conversation.

As the cousins reached the top of the stairs, Cheryl turned to face the students milling around.

“Alright everybody!” she said, clapping her hands. “I can’t wait to see you all at cheer tryouts today!” she paused as the crowd cheered. “This town needs cheer more than ever right now, with those Neanderthal Southsiders crossing over. So, who’s ready?! Let’s go River Vixens!”

With that, Cheryl walked away, her friends (more like followers, in Betty’s opinion) following behind.

“Woohoo!” Betty noticed one girl cheering _way_ louder than the rest. “Let’s go Vixens!” the girl noticed Betty staring at her and rushed over to introduce herself.

“Hi, I’m Veronica and I’ve always _dreamed_ of being a flyer for the River Vixens!” she said in a rush.

“I’m Betty, and I’m trying out for cheer too!”

Betty smiled as she and Veronica walked to their class together.

Finally, she had made a friend on her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> also, you know that part in Zombies when the alarm goes off and that's when Zed meets Addison? Yeah i really have no clue what to do for that part in this AU, so if you have an idea leave a comment or email me!


	4. Ain't No Mountain We Can't Climb

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **I updated chapter 3, i realized i forgot to include the scene where Betty and veronica meet, so go read that really quick**
> 
> Me: *literally has 10 kudos on this fic*
> 
> Also me: omg i need to post today people are going to be so disappointed

Jughead sighed as they approached the school. Of course they wouldn’t be welcomed as regular students. He shouldn’t have expected any different. Toni stiffened as they neared the gate. “Are you shitting me?” his friend exclaimed. “They’re separating us with a freaking gate?”

Jughead rolled his eyes and pulled Toni along. He tuned out her rant, he didn’t know why she had expected to be treated as equals to the Northsiders. There had long since been tension between the two sides of the town, but to have them forced inside the same building for six hours a day, five days a week? Trouble was bound to happen, and it looked like the school had “prepared” as best they could.

As he walked down the path to the school, Jughead felt someone watching him. So, the stares had begun. Ahead of him, Jughead saw a pretty blonde girl staring at him. He smirked at her, repeating his mantra for the day. _Might as well give them something to stare at_. Jughead sauntered forward, ahead of his friends, taking extra care to make sure the blonde Northsider saw the back of his serpents jacket.

He stood, laughing, at their entrance to the school, waiting for Toni and Sweet Pea to catch up. When they caught up, Sweet Pea nodded to something over Jughead’s shoulder. “Look,” he said.

Jughead turned around to see a group of teenagers in letterman jackets glaring at them, right on the other side of the gate. When they saw that the Serpents had noticed them, they started muttering to each other.

Toni rolled her eyes. “C’mon guys,” she said. “They’re not worth it.”

Sweet Pea had other plans, though. “What are you looking at?” he shouted at the jocks, slamming up against the gate between them. The footballers jumped back, looking a little scared. Their expressions turned smug, though, when Sweet Pea was forcibly pulled off the gate by a security guard.

“Are we going to have a problem here?” the guard asked, still holding on to Sweet Pea’s arm.

“No, ma’am.” Jughead says, Sweet Pea echoing him only after receiving Jughead’s glare. The guard releases Sweet Pea’s arm and they finally enter the school. As soon as they’re a few steps away from the front door, Toni ripped into Sweet Pea.

“Are you trying to get us trouble?” the shorter girl yelled. “I mean, really? Are you trying to get us kicked out on the first day of school? Honestly-“ Again, Jughead tuned Toni out as she continued. He’d had a lot of practice.

They followed the signs with arrows that said ‘Southside’ until they reached their classrooms…

…in the basement. The “classroom” was tiny, with the desks squeezed in right next to each other. The buzzing lights overhead were so dim, Jughead could barely make out the pink color of Toni’s hair.

“Are you fu-“ Toni started to say, but Sweet Pea put a hand over her mouth, pointing to something.

Another adult, clearly a Northsider from the way he’s dressed, stood in the front of the classroom. “Good morning, class.” The man said, clearly uncomfortable. “I’m your principal, Mr. Honey. Rule number one: there will be no leaving the basement, as all of your classes are down here. That’s all the rules, have a great year, I really don’t mean it, excuse me…” Mr. Honey said as he picked his way through the desks to the exit.

“Um, excuse me?” Jughead asked. The principal jumped, not realizing he had stopped right in front of the three serpents. “When and where are football tryouts?”

“Yeah, and I wanted to join the photography club.” Toni added.

“I heard there was a wrestling team?” Sweet Pea said hopefully.

“Let me ask you this,” Mr. Honey said in a snooty voice. “Do any of those things involve leaving the basement?”

The trio looked at each other, knowing where this was going. “Well duh.” Sweet Pea answered.

“Then I guess,” Mr. Honey said, a small smirk on his face. “You won’t be doing those things, hm? Now, excuse me.” The principal shoved his way past Jughead to get to the exit.

 _Yeah Dad_ , Jughead thought. _An_ _actual_ _school_.

“Alright class,” their teacher started. “Please pull out your math textbooks and turn to page-”

“This is supposed to be chemistry.” Toni interjected.

“Kid,” their teacher said tiredly. “Forty-five minutes ago, I was a janitor, okay? Just sit down and take out your textbook.”

Toni and Sweet Pea took their seats, the former still muttering angrily under her breath. Deciding he’d rather skip than sit through this botched math class, Jughead slowly slipped out the door. He wandered through the basement until he found a staircase that lead to the upper floors of the school. He made sure no one was around before climbing up the stairs.

Jughead walked through the empty hallways, noticing how much nicer they were then the ones downstairs.

Everything was going smoothly until an alarm went off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the little boy i'm babysitting: look at my drawing!
> 
> me: oh it's so cool!
> 
> him: guess what it is!
> 
> me: ... a person?
> 
> him: it's a house!


	5. And All the Times they Told me ‘Walk Away’ I Said ‘Forget It’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm running out of song lyrics to use as chapter titles
> 
> I was kind of blanking on what to do for when the Zombie alarm goes off, so here's i improvised

When Betty heard the alarm go off, she rolled her eyes.

The students jumped as the ringing startled them, before sprinting out of the classroom as a whole group.

Betty made eye contact with the teacher, who gave her a small smile and gestured towards the door.

Betty’s parents had drilled her on what to do in this type of situation. Someone had probably blown something up in one of the science labs, which had set the alarm off. Seeing as it was the first day of school and there had been no safety drill, the freshman had no clue what to do. The older students were probably just excited to miss a class. Betty knew that you were _supposed_ to make your way _calmly_ to the nearest safe-room, but she knew that the teachers actually had little control over the students.

That’s how it was at Riverdale High, Cheryl had told her. The school had lots of money and great resources, but had little control over the student body. Betty had been doubtful at first, but know she saw that her cousin’s words were true.

So, Betty made her way down the empty hallways, following to arrows pointing to the nearest safe room.

As she heard the door click behind her, she felt more trapped than safe in the dark room.

Betty was pulled away from her thoughts when she heard things crashing to the floor on the other side of the room.

“Shit,” a voice said.

 _Thank God_ , Betty thought. _I thought all of the students were idiots_.

“Hello?” she called out.

“Hello?” the voice answered back, clearly a man’s voice.

“Hello?” she said once more.

“Why, hello there.” The guy said.

“Don’t get any ideas, buster.” Betty warned, walking closer to where his voice was coming from. “The only thing more dangerous than my high kick, is my low kick.”

“I get the idea,” he said. “Don’t worry, I won’t try anything. I’m having enough of a shitty day as it is. My dad is putting all this pressure on me to play football, and then I have to go and miss the tryouts.”

“Oh, you play football?” Betty repeats, latching on to the safer topic. “I do cheer, too! I’ve done it my whole life and I really, _really_ hope I make the team today.” _Mom will kill me if I don’t,_ she added silently.

Just then, the lights went on.

Standing in front of Betty was a Southsider. She screamed on instinct and punched him square in the face.

The guy groaned and cupped his face in his hands.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Betty said. “My mom has always drilled it into my head that all Southsiders were awful and dangerous, but you… you don’t seem that bad at all.”

The guy pulled his hand away from his face and, seeing that there was no blood, held it out for Betty to shake.

She gasped. It was the Serpent from this morning!

“Jughead Jones, at your service.” He said.

He was even more beautiful in person. Betty took his hand slowly. “Jughead?” she asked skeptically.

He smirked a little and replied, “Would you prefer Forsythe Pendleton Jones, the third?”

She laughed and shook her head. “Jughead it is, then. I’m Betty Cooper.”

“Nice to meet you, Betty Cooper.” Jughead said, still holding on to her hand.

They jumped apart though, as the door to the safe-room slammed open. Cheryl stormed in, followed by her three friends; Kevin, Reggie, and Fangs.

“Ew!” Kevin exclaimed, followed by Reggie growling out, “Serpent scum.” Fangs glared at Jughead and took a step forwards. The serpent didn’t back down though, he just glared right back.

Betty rolled her eyes as Cheryl pulled her back. She should have expected this, Cheryl wouldn’t let Betty out of her sight lest someone unworthy even _look_ at her (Cheryl’s words, not hers).

“Get away from my cousin, you Serpent!” Cheryl spat out at Jughead. Betty tried to tug her arm away from Cheryl, but her cousin was stronger than she looked.

“Cheryl,” Betty protested. “It’s fine! We were just talking!”

“Just talking?” Cheryl repeated. “Very likely. He was probably planning on how to take advantage of you.” Betty shared a glance with Jughead, who just looked amused at the whole situation. “Come on, Betty. We have to go to tryouts.”

As Cheryl pulled her out of the room, Betty gave Jughead an apologetic smile. He smiled in return, and left the room from the other exit.

She got the feeling it wouldn’t be the last time she saw the Serpent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed!


	6. Nothing Keeps Us Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry! I'm not abandoning this story!  
> Sorry it's been so long! School has kept me busy, and this chapter was hard to write. I ended up taking the dialogue directly from the movie, I have very little space left in my brain to come up with original dialogue right now. I am also the master of procrastination, but my procrastination involves reading fanfiction instead of writing it. I'm sorry this is so short, the next chapter should be longer.  
> Sorry again, I'll hopefully be able to go back to a regular schedule as things get settled. But for now, enjoy!
> 
> I don't own anything.

“Okay, welcome to football tryouts!” The coach in front of Jughead shouted. “As you know, this town is a cheerleading town, ‘cause this town like to win. And our football team is awful, so we are not going to win this year, and I'm probably gonna lose my job.”

 _Wow_ , Jughead thought. _Great speech_.

“Good news for you, though.” The coach continued. “Y'all made the team, whoopie.”

The rest of the guys gave half-hearted cheers and high-fives.

“Yes! I made it!” Jughead shouted. He couldn’t believe it, he didn’t even have to do anything. His dad was going to be so proud he-

“Except for the Serpent.”

Jughead felt his heart stop. “What?” he asked, not believing it.

“Principal Honey said you guys shouldn't even leave the basement.” The coach said. “He didn't tell you?”

“No.” Jughead lied. The coach raised an eyebrow.

“Mmm-mmm. Don't think so. I think I would have remembered that. Come on, just let me be on the team.” Jughead pleaded.

“Can't have a Serpent on the field, we'd look like a laughing stock.” The coach tried to explain.

“Besides, I'm no trailblazer. You know, I'm more of a follower. Actually, I'm not even really good at that, so...”

As Jughead stalked off the field, he saw a redheaded student giving him a sympathetic look. Jughead sneered at him and kept walking.

He couldn’t believe this! He wasn’t allowed to be on the team just because he was a Serpent! His dad was going to kill him.

* * *

“Football is stupid, anyway.” Sweet Pea said, trying to cheer Jughead up.

“Ah, thanks for the pep talk.” He answered sarcastically.

“Ha! Very funny.”

“You know, I think that cheerleader likes me.” Jughead said, changing the topic. He couldn’t think about the tryouts anymore.

He saw Toni and Sweet Pea exchange a look over his head, but Toni answered, “The one that punched you?”

“In the face?” Sweet Pea added.

“Yeah, yeah.” Jughead shoved Sweet Pea. “I think there's something there, you know?”

“Look.” Toni said. “Northsiders are bad, but cheerleaders are monsters. “Things need to change."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it. I'll post another one soon to make up for the weeks I didn't post.


	7. We Are the Mighty Shrimp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is mostly a description of the cheer tryouts. some dialogue is taken from the movie and some is mine. this is my longest chapter yet. enjoy!

Betty took a deep breath and tried to focus. In front of her, Cheryl was shouting instructions to the students scattered around the gym.

“Welcome to cheer tryouts!” Cheryl shouted. “It’s good to see so many… wannabes. If you want to make the team, you need to bring it, okay?”

The students nodded and looked around, hoping someone else was as nervous as they were. Cheryl’s lackey Kevin stepped forwards. “Today’s tryouts are going to be easy.” He said. “the hardest thing you’ll have to do is a back handspring, funky chicken, round-off match split with a robot down powering finish.”

Betty nodded, playing it out in her mind. “Captain Cheryl,” she said raising her hand. “was that funky chicken Cajun or shake-n-bake?” Betty asked, much to the confusion of the others. Veronica tugged at her sleeve, giving her a questioning look.

Cheryl looked thoughtful. “Well,” she said. “I’ve never heard of Cajun, so surprise me!”

Betty nodded, feeling confident. She noticed Veronica looking lost, so she turned to reassure her friend. “Don’t worry,” the blond said. “We got this.”

Up ahead, Kevin clapped for their attention. “Mighty shrimp don’t think small.” He said. “Cheer until it hurts.”

“Let’s go!” Cheryl shouted, blowing her whistle.

* * *

Once the students were lined up, Cheryl instructed them to start stretching. “Don’t hesitate,” she said. “Give me your best.”

Betty watched as her cousin walked down the first row. Cheryl nodded approvingly at the first two girls, and pulled one guy’s leg higher. Betty grimaced as the redhead came to a stop at one student. He was wearing a shirt with Cheryl’s face on it. She knew her cousin loved attention, but not when it interfered with her cheerleading. Betty watched as the guys took a selfie with Cheryl, though the captain was ripping his number in half.

Cheryl pushed her way to the front before clapping her hands. Everyone snapped to attention. They watched as Cheryl and Kevin demonstrated what to do in perfect sync.

The students copied as best they could, and Betty was surprised to see only one person get kicked out.

Cheryl then instructed everyone to form a pyramid on the ground. She clapped her hands again, and the cheer formation began. Betty focused on what she was doing, but also payed attention to the rest of the group.

Veronica was doing well; she was able to keep up with little help from Betty.

Betty saw the guy with the Cheryl t-shirt sneak back in and get kicked out again. She watched as Cheryl kicked out the girl at the front of the pyramid and took her place. As Cheryl clapped her hands again, everyone dropped to the ground. Except for one girl. Betty saw Cheryl roll her eyes and gesture to Kevin, who then pulled the girl out of the gym.

Next, they formed into smaller groups. Cheryl picked one person from each group to be the flier. As Cheryl came to her group, Betty prayed that she would be chosen.

Her prayers were answers as Cheryl pointed to her. The rest of the group formed two lines on either side of her that she walked through, before the guy behind her picked her up. Betty sat on his shoulders and gave her best jazz-hands.

Across the gym she saw Veronica tap two guys on the shoulder, and she mimicked Betty’s movements as she was picked up. Betty smiled at her friend. She was glad Veronica had gained some confidence; she would make a great addition to the team.

If Betty made it on, that is.

They did the same thing again, this time with only two groups right next to each other. Betty and Veronica were chosen as the fliers again.

Cheryl instructed the students to form two lines again before flipping down the aisle. Everyone clapped and cheered, then spread out across the gym. Cheryl and Kevin walked through the crowd with clipboards, marking down notes on everyone. Betty saw two girls get kicked out, before another couple who stumbled was shown out.

Then came the last part of the tryouts.

“You guys got moves,” Cheryl said, pacing in front of the group. “But can you win over a crowd? Can you get them to worship you, like they worship me?” Cheryl raised her arms and a sheet fell down from the ceiling. Sitting on the bleachers was a huge crowd of students.

“Betty!” Veronica said over the noise. “I can’t do this! Who am I kidding, I’ll never make it!”

Before Betty could respond, Veronica made her was over to the bleachers to sit down.

Kevin suddenly pushed one girl out in front of the crowd. Obviously caught by surprise, she just stood there. The crowd booed. Betty even heard one person shout, “You don’t have what it takes!”

Betty pressed her nails into her palms as Kevin dragged the poor girl away. She _hated_ how competitive the town was sometimes. As soon as the girl was gone, a second girl flipped in front of the crowd. They went wild, and she pumped her arms in the air. Cheryl lifted the lid on two plated to reveal silver pom-poms. Cheryl smiled, and the girl shrieked as she was welcomed to the team.

Then it was Betty’s turn. She took a deep breath, jumped in front of the crowd and hopped up on the bleachers. She pumped her arms with the crowd and one section of people stood up. Betty chanted, “We are the mighty shrimp! It’s time to show you now!” She turned to the right side of the crowd. “We got the stuff to light you up,” she turned to the left side. “It’s getting hotter now!” Betty flipped off the bench and the crowd went crazy. People stood up and spilled off the bleachers. She led Veronica and the others into a half-formed dance routine. At the very end, Cheryl jumped into the formation. As the people cheered, Cheryl came over to Betty.

“Very impressive, Cousin.” She said. “Welcome to the mighty shrimp!”

Betty gasped. “Oh my gosh, really?!” When Cheryl nodded, she hugged her cousin. “Thank you so much!”

As Betty looked around the gym, she noticed Veronica looking dejected on the bleachers. Betty braced herself before turning back to Cheryl and saying, “Hey cuz! Veronica over there, has some great moves and some serious pep. I think she’d make a great addition to the team!”

Cheryl smiled and gave Betty a condescending look. “Oh Betty,” she said. “Riverdale is all about precision. Perfection. Veronica just can’t give us that.”

Betty clasped her hands together in front of her face. “Pretty please?” she asked.

Cheryl sighed and called out, “Veronica! Get over here!” Veronica looked around in confusion. She pointed to herself and mouthed, ‘me?’. Cheryl rolled her eyes and nodded. Veronica scurried over and stood at attention.

“Well Veronica,” Cheryl said through her teeth. “Today you showed some real… promise. Welcome to the team.”

“What?” Veronica asked. “You mean-I made the team?”

“That’s what I said.” Cheryl gritted out.

Veronica screamed and hugged Betty. “I can’t believe it!” she shouted. “Thank you so much!”

As Veronica dragged her away for lunch, Betty looked back and mouthed ‘thank you’ to her cousin.

Cheryl just rolled her eyes again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i totally didn't write this instead of doing my school work.

**Author's Note:**

> Well folks, if you made it this far, surely you can leave a tiny little comment.
> 
> I'm only half kidding. Please tell me what you think!


End file.
